Running a classic car is often an easier prospect than a more recent model, as the mechanical parts have a tendency towards commonality between models, simplicity, and maintenance using basic tools. However assuming some level of parts availability for your model it is not usually the running gear that causes headaches. Instead, it is the smaller and less durable parts, the little plastic pieces that formed vital components but have not been manufactured for decades. These are the parts for which the advent of accessible 3D printing has been a revelation, suddenly the owner of a wreck need only to have basic CAD skills to deliver the goods.
![A Chevy Corvair (not [Ken]'s one). Greg Gjerdingen [CC BY 2.0].](https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/1024px-flickr_-_dvs1mn_-_64_chevrolet_corvair_monza_1.jpg)
We wish [Ken] every success with his Corvair, and indeed can’t help envying him a little for owning it. Some of us have been known to dabble in older metal, too.
This is an entry in Hackaday’s
Repairs You Can Print contest
The twenty best projects will receive $100 in Tindie credit, and for the best projects by a Student or Organization, we’ve got two brand-new Prusa i3 MK3 printers. With a printer like that, you’ll be breaking stuff around the house just to have an excuse to make replacement parts.
Oh the joy of finding that a layer of rust has swollen from steel and split the plastic.
Was there a chemical incompatibility in the 1960~1970’s that corroded the steel?
Or did the plastic just adsorb so much humidity that it rusted the steel?
Wear of coatings from contact with mating parts and/or lubes just didn’t account for all of the rust formation issues.
That’s a really good question, hadn’t thought of that. Most of those plastics are indeed hygroscopic.
So awesome! ’65 Corvair was my first car. Fun machine!
Mine was a ’64 two door. Wish I still had it, and yeah, it was way fun.
I have a 64 corvair 700 4 Dr, automatic transmission, factory air, complete car, no title, car does not run,min rust,great project. needs a good home. Let me know if you are interested
I had a 61, 62 and 66 myself. Fun cars and helped me learn the advantages of doing a good job at repair work. Do a half ass job and get to walk for your trouble…
I was thinking of 3D printing one for a 70’s Buick (Saginaw steering column), but you can get those for cheap from anywhere. So i found no reason to spend that much time 3D modeling it. It’s also way more complicated than the Corvair one. But this is a good example of the stuff you can use hobby 3D printing for.
A really nice car, and from what i can see, looks to be in great condition, although seems to have some quite visible off theme additions.
Still unsafe at any speed?
Never was !
Ken’s Corvair is a 1964!
It’s a ’63 body, with a ’64 engine and ’64 suspension parts (sway bar).
Corvairs are such a fun car to drive. In high school I took a ’63 Corvair Monza and turned it into a Sandrail, driving it is the best part of my summers.
Interested in finding a clean 65-69 Spider.
It may be the contact in the switch that oxidizes from a small use. In any case, anything can be made, but it is always the best replacement with the original part. Here’s another text from another car about switch replacement https://www.diyany.net/turn-signal-switch-replacing-and-repairing/